Dutch move to end consultants' freedom

After five years of negotiations the first step has been taken to integrate Dutch consultants into the hospital management structure and limit their freedom to act as self employed entrepreneurs.

With the exception of consultants in university hospitals, who are paid a salary, most of the 13000 hospital consultants, or medical specialists, in the Netherlands charge their patients fees for services that are based on national tariffs. The patient receives a separate bill from the hospital.

Under the new legislation, which health minister Professor Els Borst-Eilers laid before parliament …